Westburn parents oppose proposal

Press, 9 April 1979, Page 17

Westburn parents oppose proposal

' A meeting of parents of jVestburn Primary School pupils to discuss a Canterbury Education Board proposal that Form 1 and 2 pupils attend Cobham Intermediate School from next February was almost unanimously opposed to the proposal. About 180 parents attended the meeting Meetings were also held ji the Avonhead, Russley, ind Merrin primary schools to discuss the board s proposal that RusSlet and Avondale pupils attend Kirkwood Intermediate and Merrin and Westburn pupils attend Cobham. The first speaker at the T’estburn meeting, Mrs R. Cowell, as area representative on the Education Board. said there was no urgency about the propose 1 . as the schools in the area were not overcrowded. She discounted rumours that the board had already made a decision on the proposal, and said that no decision would be made

until the parents’ views were heard and considered. Mr J. F. Dysart, the board's assistant general manager, told the meeting that the final decision lay with the Minister of Education. “We will take back to the board your thoughts, and you will then have- a chance to vote on the proposal," he said. Mr R. Trollope, an inspector of schools and a representative of the Department of Education, said that the department did not play one type of school against another, but was interested in education over the whole spectrum. ‘‘The intermediate school is like maria,ee,” he said. “There are just as many birds wanting to get out as there are wanting in," Mr'Trollope said. “The department is interested in extending the intermediate system where the parents desire it,” he said. Among his arguments in

favour of intermediate schools was that teachet strengths could be deployed more effectively when concentrating on pupils with a two-year age range, and that better and more specialised facilities were available at the larger intermediate schools. A film showed parents what went on in an intermediate school, and its advantages. It was then over to the parents to question the speakers. Various points were raised, and each comment opposing the proposal drew' cheers and applause from most present. Points raised by parents included: — A large intermediate school would make a child feel anonymous; — Children would encounter dangerous traffic intersections travelling the extra distance to Cobham; —More fuel would be used transporting children the further distance to Cobham; — If Cobham’s roll rose to 750, as expected, in two years, where would the extra equipment come from and who would pay for it?

—Concern about having to buy new uniforms. The speakers’ answers to questions and comments rarely seemed to satisfy the parents. One man was prompted to suggest to the speakers that it was obvious the parents were strongly against the proposal, and that a postal vote would be a waste of time and money. To this, Mrs Cowell said that the board had made a resolution to hold the vote so they had to go ahead with it.

Because it seemed obvious which way the parents would vote, the real question seemed to be how much weight the vote would carry in deciding the policy ultimately adopted by the board.